Bio

Brayden McNabb Bio

There are some hockey players you just cannot miss when they hit the ice. At 6-foot-4, 216 pounds, and with an occasional mean streak, McNabb fits that category.

A farm boy from the prairie town of Davidson, Saskatchewan, McNabb has a big shot and a big frame. He impressed the Buffalo Sabres enough that they drafted him in the third round (No. 66) in the 2009 NHL Draft. His size and skating ability allow him to be a shutdown presence.

There are some hockey players you just cannot miss when they hit the ice. At 6-foot-4, 216 pounds, and with an occasional mean streak, McNabb fits that category.

A farm boy from the prairie town of Davidson, Saskatchewan, McNabb has a big shot and a big frame. He impressed the Buffalo Sabres enough that they drafted him in the third round (No. 66) in the 2009 NHL Draft. His size and skating ability allow him to be a shutdown presence.

McNabb made his NHL debut as a 20-year-old with Buffalo on Nov. 26, 2011, delivering six hits, taking two shots and blocking one over 20 shifts and 13:42 of ice time against the Washington Capitals. He got his first NHL point when he scored in a 4-2 win against Washington on Dec. 26, 2011, and played 25 games for the Sabres in 2011-12.

The next couple of seasons were mainly developmental years for McNabb, who spent all of 2012-13 in the American Hockey League. There he led Rochester defensemen with 36 points in 62 games and made the AHL All-Star Game. He got an assist in the game and won the Hardest Shot event in the AHL Skills Competition with a blast measured at 101.8 mph.

McNabb played 12 games with Buffalo in 2013-14 before the Sabres traded him with Jonathan Parker and a second-round draft pick in 2014 and 2015 to the Los Angeles Kings for Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers on March 4, 2014. After spending the rest of that season in the AHL, McNabb opened the 2014-15 season with Los Angeles. He finished third among Kings' defensemen that season with 22 assists and was named the Kings' Best Newcomer.

McNabb made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut with Los Angeles in 2015-16, appearing in all five games of the first round against the San Jose Sharks.

Before his NHL career, McNabb played four-plus seasons with Kootenay of the Western Hockey League. A member of the Eastern Conference First All-Star Team in 2009-10, he had 17 goals and 57 points (eighth most among league defensemen) that season. In 2010-11, McNabb's final junior season, he was third among WHL defensemen with 21 goals and 72 points and second with 51 assists. He tied for the WHL lead with 27 playoff points to help Kootenay win the championship.